


Much Ado About Nubbins

by groovekittie



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-13
Updated: 2009-11-13
Packaged: 2017-10-02 14:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/groovekittie/pseuds/groovekittie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nubbins make the worst matchmakers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Much Ado About Nubbins

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the 2008 Yuletide Challenge. To my beta: I have to give a HUGE thank you to goodisrelative!! Seriously! She provided me a last minute beta, kept my sanity and was my biggest cheerleader as well as held my hand when I cried a little. lol To my recipient: I really hope you like this! It's my first time writing in this fandom, and I am sooooo happy you requested this pairing! I love Ashley/Henry! *clappy hands*

She stood at the doorway without announcing her arrival, and listened to him as he furiously tapped away at his keyboard entering commands into the various systems he was running. It all came so easily to him, the language of programming. She smiled at him and shoved her hands in her pockets.

"You know," he said suddenly, "there's something to be said for heightened senses."

Ashley jumped, startled at his words. She hadn't thought he'd heard her come in.

Without turning around, he knew she was smiling with her chin dimpled and her eyes rolling at him. _Something's to be said for knowing someone like the back of your hand,_ he thought to himself. He smiled and spun around in his chair and confirmed she was indeed smiling in that exact manner. He grinned, his eyeteeth flashing. It was a grin that Ashley loved, had loved for a very long time.

"So I take it you're learning to appreciate what you have instead of cursing it."

Henry pursed his lips slightly and bounced his head slightly while looking up at the ceiling, seemingly thinking about the question.

"Yeah, I guess."

Ashley rolled her eyes and sat in one of the extra computer chairs in his office. Her relaxed figure seemed to melt into it as she lifted one of her legs onto Henry's knee. Without a moment's thought, he eased off her boot and began massaging her foot. A small moan of grateful pleasure escaped her throat.

She let him knead the tiny knots from the muscles in her foot for a while before she spoke again. "What are you enjoying about them so far?"

"Hm?" he muttered without looking up.

"Your newfound abilities," she clarified.

"Oh, I don't know. I have a better sense of smell. And I can hear things better."

"That's how you knew I was at the door, right?"

He nodded his head. "Between your boots and your scent, I knew you were coming from down the hall."

Her head rocked back a bit. She was offended. "My scent? You saying I stink?"

Henry laughed. "No, not in the least." He ran a hand up her calf and gave the back of her knee a light squeeze. "I love the way you smell."

Ashley wrinkled her nose and said, "I don't know how I should take that."

"As a compliment," he replied and laughed again.

"Close enough," she said. She leaned in towards him and he mirrored her until their lips met, his hands reached up to cradle her face to hold back her light blonde hair from her tanned skin.

They had known each other for so long, most of their lives in fact, but nothing much had ever happened. Nothing serious, anyway; they'd fooled around here and there.

Then the Nubbins had shown up.

...

There had been a terribly awkward moment between Ashley and Will where something had almost happened between them. Her Nubbin had urinated on him, and he had asked for another shirt, she had immediately retrieved one of Henry's from her armoire. In the Nubbin induced pheromone-heightened moment where Will and Ashley had nearly kissed, Will hadn't even thought to question why Ashley would have a men's shirt in her room, nor did he recognize it as Henry's shirt.

 

Later that evening, after everything had calmed down and all was said and done, Will had come back, shirt in hand and apology in mind. A second awkward moment was had, Will had returned the shirt, and he backed down the hall, his shoulders slightly hunched, his hands in his pocket. "So, I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Oh, yeah, sure," she said, her small frame exuding her discomfort and embarrassment. As soon as she felt it polite, she closed the door to her room and clutched the shirt to her chest. She mentally replayed the last few minutes and hoped to hell that Will hadn't recognized the shirt as Henry's. If word got back her mother about her and Henry ... well, Ashley wasn't sure what would happen, but it probably wouldn't be good.

She waited a few minutes and then she quietly peeked out her bedroom door and made sure the coast was clear before she made her way down to Henry's room. She found him on his bed reading a book, his head propped up on one crooked arm, his legs stretched out on his neatly made bed. Despite his sometimes sloppy appearance, Henry's room was always so neatly kept. His seemingly conflicting nature is what she loved most about him. And that's when it first hit her. She had feelings for Henry.

"Hey, Ash. What's up?" he asked. He laid his book down and reached for her as though it were the most natural thing to do in the whole wide world.

She was in his arms before she realized it and he immediately gave her a confused but pleased smile. "What's this all about?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her and took the shirt from her grasp. Ashley instantly realized that he had been reaching for his shirt, and she had mistakenly assumed he had been reaching for her.

And for the third time that day, she had a horribly awkward moment. "Oh." She found herself blushing furiously. Unable to find the words, she tried to sit up. "I was just returning your shirt."

She let her curtain of soft blonde hair fall over her face in an attempt to hide her extreme embarrassment at her misunderstanding his gesture.

Henry, unwilling to let her go, immediately pulled Ashley into a tight bear hug and wrapped his legs around her.

"You do realize I could kill you from this position," she warned through clenched teeth.

He huffed into her hair. "Why does that turn me on?"

"Because you're sick in the head?"

He smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Most likely."

She couldn't help but smile in return. She returned the favour by kissing his chest and relaxing into his embrace.

"Now are you going to tell me what got you all riled up?" he asked.

Ashley sighed and shifted her body until her head was resting comfortably on his shoulder and her leg was draped across his hips. She idly picked at a loose thread on the hem of his t-shirt. "Something happened today with Will."

She felt Henry's body tense slightly beneath her, but he remained silent, waiting for her to continue when she was ready.

"It was the Nubbins. Their pheromones or something. We almost kissed. Well, the one in my room peed on him, and he took - well, _I_ took - his shirt off, and he asked if I had a men's shirt. And of course, I had your shirt from that last time you spent the night."

Henry sighed. "He didn't recognize it, did he?"

Ashley frowned, and shook her head. "No."

"So, we're in the clear for now?"

She nodded.

"But that's not what you're upset about, is it?"

She shook her head again.

He stayed silent, but squeezed her shoulders and kissed her head again. "Okay," he whispered. "Okay."

Ashley gave a shaky sigh, "Yeah." She ran her hand up the length of his torso. She could feel his nipple piercing, and remembered the time he got it. They'd been so drunk that time. The hangover and lecture they'd gotten from her mother the next day was almost worth it to see Henry's shining eyes and his drunken bravado. She knew he would do anything for her. And she for him.

"Maybe this isn't such a terrible thing, Ash," he whispered into her hair.

"Maybe," she whispered back. "And maybe this is the biggest mistake we'll ever make. Ever think of that?"

"Nope," he said and grinned.

She looked up into his face and smiled back. She couldn't help it. Henry always found a way to make her smile.


End file.
